Display and dispensing cabinet



July 17, 1962 Filed July 20, 1960 L. W. HEIN DISPLAY AND DISPENSINGCABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. LesTelzWsLLiAM HHN July 17, 1962 L.w. HEIN 3,044,841

DISPLAY AND DISPENSING CABINET Filed July 20, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR. LEQTEQWILLMM HEIN United States ate-t 3,044,841 DISPLAY ANDDISPENSING CABINET Lester William Hein, 1526 E. Alton, Independence, Mo.Filed July 20, 1960, Ser. No. 44,122 1 Claim. (Cl. 2312-438) Thisinvention relates to cabinets and, more particularly, to an improvedconstruction of cabinets for display and dispensing of articles.

In lunch counters, restaurants, ice cream stands and the like, in foodand refreshment dispensing locations, it is desirable to have cups,cones and like refreshment containers or other articles being dispensedarranged to provide ready access by the clerks or servers, and also tohave such articles arranged whereby they are readily visible by thecustomers. It is common practice to have such articles arranged instacks and tiers on counters, and it is quite common that the clerks orservers moving in limited space will accidentally brush against suchtiers `and stacks, knocking them over and damaging same.

Also, such open display of the articles will permit dustY or othercontamination to collect thereon whereby such an arrangement does notprovide desired sanitary conditions.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide a cabinetadapted to contain a plurality of articles in an enclosed space withtransparent portions providing a ready view of thev contained articlesby customers; to provide such a structure with a movable closure memberreadily operable to give access to the displayed articles; to provide aclosure member having cooperating engaging portions formingsubstantially dust-free seals; to provide such a'structure with membersfor receiving a plurality of nested articles whereby said articles maybe easily removed one at a time without danger of damage to othercontained articles; to provide such a cabinet structure in which theclosure is easily removable for cleaning,`thereby facilitating cleaningand'maintenance of sanitary conditions in the cabinet; and to provide acabinet structure which is economical to manufacture, capable ofcontaining and protecting a large number of nested articles which arevisible from the exterior and yet only require a small area of counterspace or the like.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection wtih the accompanyingdrawings wherein are set forth by way of illustration and examplecertain ernbodiments lof this invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a cabinet embodying the features of thepresent invention with port-ions ybroken awayto illustrate a closuremember guide.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the cabinet taken on theline 2-2, FIG. l, and illustrating the arrangement of nested articlestherein.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of closure memberpanels and the hinge connections thereof.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of one end of aclosure member panel.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional View through thecabinet taken on the line 5-5, FIG. l.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary Ysectional View through the cabinettaken on the line 6 6, FIG. l.

FIG. 7 is anenlarged sectional view taken on the line 77, FIG. l, andillustrating the ways for receiving and supporting nested articles.

Referring more in detail to the drawings:

1 designates a cabinet particularly adapted to contain food orfoodcontaining articles for convenient display and dispensing. Thecabinet, in the illustrated structure, consists of connected side walls2 and 3, top wall 4, rear wall 5 and bottom wall 6, an upper front strip7 and lower front strip 8, said walls and strips being connectedtogether to form tight joints and being of suitable mate- ,to the topWall 4 and side walls 2 and 3 and depends from the top wall terminatingas at 10 to cooperate with the side walls 2 and 3 and lower front strip8 in defining Va front opening 11 through which access is provided tothe interior or compartmentV 12 of the cabinet in which articles arecontained. The lower front strip 8 is preferably removable and has ends13 engaging the inner faces 14 of the side walls 2 and 3, the front facel5 of said strip preferably being coplanar with the forward edges 16 ofsaid walls 2 and 3. The rear face 17 of said strip 8 er1- gages theforward edge 6 of the bottom wall 6, as illustrated in FIG. 2. In theillustrated structure, angle brackets 18 are secured to the side walls 2and 3 by suitable fastening devices 19 with one -leg 2,0 of said anglebrackets extending inwardly and overlying the front surface of the strip8, suitable fastening devices 21, such as thumbscrews, being mounted inthe bracket legs-20' and operable to engage the lower `front strip 8 topress same against the forward edge 6 of the bottom wall 6 and retainsaid front strip in position.

A movable closure member 22 is mounted in the cabinet and is operable toopen and close the front opening 11 of the cabinet. The closure member22 preferably consists of `a plurality of hingedly connected panels 23of transparent material such as transparent synthetic resins I as, forexample, Lucite or the like, wherein the panels individually aresubstantially rigid. The closure member panels 23 have extensions 24 and25 at their upper and ranged substantially at the longitudinal centersat the ends of the panels |23, said tongues preferably being ofsubstantially the same thickness as the extensions 24 and 25, therebylesser in thickness than the panels 23, with the rear face 27 of saidtongues substantially coplanar i with the rear faces t28 of the panels23. The tongues 26 on the panels extend into opposed inwardly facingways 29 formed by track or guide members 30 and 31 positioned on theside walls 2 and 3 and secured -to said side Walls by suitable fasteningdevices such as screws 32. Y

The tracks ways 30 and 31 preferably have substanltially verticalportions 33 along each side of the front opening 1'1 and horizontalportions 34 fixed to the side walls adjacent to and slightly below thetop wall 4, the vertical and horizontal portions 33 and 34 beingconnected by au arcuate portion 35 to for-m continuous Ways for movementof the panels of the closure member. The trackways each have baseportions -36 secured to said side walls with spaced flanges 37 and 38extending inwardly therefrom to define the ways or grooves 29. Theforward flange 37 has an inner edge-39 adjacent the end edges of thepanels 23, and the rearward flange 38 extends beyond the end edges ofthe panels into underlying relation with end margins of the panels 23-whereby said panels subl stantially engage the flanges 38 to form aseal therewith with lthe tongues extending into the ways or grooves 29to guide the panels during movement in the trackways. The tongues 26preferably are of substantially less width than the panels, asillustrated in FIG. 4, whereby said tongues will move in the arcuateportions 3S of the trackways without binding. The closure member is suchthat the lower edge 40 of the lowermost panel 41 will engage the uppersurface 42 of the strip 8 slightly above the upper surface of the bottomwall 6, said front strip 8 having an upward extension 43 which overliesthe front face of the lowermost panel 41, as -illustrated in PIG. 6,when the closure member is in closing position. The lowermost panel 41also has a handle member 44 secured thereto for facilitating movement ofthe closure member.

The panels 23 of the closure member are hingedly connected substantiallyalong the edges of the upper extensions 24 and, in the illustratedstructure, the hinges consist of spaced plate members secured to theinner surface of the respective panels by suitable fastening devicessuch as screws 46, said plate members extending across the width of thepanels 23 and upper extensions 24 thereon with the upper ends of theplate members having bent loop or bearing portions 47 which mate withcorresponding loop or bearing portions 48 on the lower ends of theplates on adjacent panels to receive hinge pins 49 hingedly connectingthe panels whereby the plate members of the hinge member form achain-like connection for the panels.

When the closure member is in closing position, the panels are arrangedwhereby the uppermost panel 50 extends upwardly above the lower edge 16of the top strip 7 and is adjacent thereto as illustrated in FIG. 2.When access is desired to the compartment 12, the handle member 44 isgrasped and upward force applied to the closure member moving the panelsupwardly in the ways 29 to provide a suitable access opening. It ispreferred that the depth of the cabinet be such that the closure membercan be moved upwardly until the handle 41 engages the lower edge 10 ofthe front strip 7.

Articles 51 are arranged on the bottom wall 6 and preferably aresupported to prevent accidental damage as would occur if lthe stacks ortiers were knocked over. In storing articles to be dispensed, as, forexample, ice cream cones or cups, such articles are usually taperedwhereby they will nest and the lower edges have outwardly extending rimsor beads 52 thereon. The bottom wall 6 preferably has upstanding rails53 arranged in pairs with each of a pair having -inwardly extendinganges S4, the spacing between the inner edges 55 of said flanges 54`being such that when an article, such as a cup, is moved into the spacebetween the rails, the rims 52 will be between the flanges S4 and theupper surface of the bottom wall 6, and the inner edges 55 of theflanges 54 will be slightly spaced from the sides of the cup, asillustrated in FIG. 7. This holds the lowermost of the stack of nestedcups in place, but permits same to be moved longitudinally of the pairof rails to move same to the rear of the cabinet and other cups may bestacked thereon in nested relation. The forward ends 56 of the rails arespaced from the forward end 6 of the bottom wall 6 to provide adequatespace for the insertion of the lowermost cup or cone into alignment formovement between the respective pair of rails. With lthe closure membermoved upwardly to provide access to the compartment 12, a person mayremove a cup or cone or other article 51 positioned therein withoutdanger of tipping over any stacks and, when the article is removed, theclosure member 22 is moved downwardly into closing position to protectthe articles from dirt and the like but still provides a view thereof,forming an attractive display of articles to be dispensed.

When it is desired to clean the cabinet, the thumbscrews 21 areloosened, and then the cabinet moved until the forward portion thereofextends from a counter or the like whereby the lower strip 8 may be sliddownwardly and removed. Then the entire sliding closure member 22 may bemoved downwardly in the trackways and removed. Then all of the contentsof articles 51 should be removed and the cabinet is ready to bethoroughly cleaned to make same sanitary. After the cabinet is cleaned,the closure member 22 is moved into position whereby the uppermost panel50 will have the tongues 26 thereof aligned with the grooves 29 of thetrackways, Then, by moving the closure member upwardly, it will enterthe trackways and be moved upwardly until it is in a position whereinthe cabinet is open. The lower front strip 8 is then replaced andsecured in position. The cabinet is then ready for further use.

It is to be understood that while I have illustrated and described oneform of my invention, it is not to be limited to the specific form orarrangement of parts herein described and shown except insofar as such`limitations are included in the claim.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A display cabinet construction for food items and the like comprising, acasing having connected bottom, side, rear and top walls defining acompartment having an open front, guide means on said side walls havingopposed inwardly facing channels adjacent the open front and top wall,said channels having straight portions at the front and top andconnected by curved portions adjacent the upper portion of the openfront said guide means having spaced apart opposed front and rearsurfaces of said channels, said guide means terminating in open channelends ad` jacent said bottom, a front closure member having a pluralityof transparent panels hingedly connected along their oppositelongitudinal edges, said panels having flat inner surfaces extendingfrom opposite ends thereof, said panels having extensions at their upperand lower edges adapted to overlap corresponding extensions of adjacentpanels and having sealing engagement therewith when said panels are incoplanar relation, tongues extending from opposite ends of the panelsand being of substantiaily lesser width than said panels, said tonguesbeing slidably engaged in said opposed channels for sliding movement ofsaid closure member to and from closing relationship to said frontopening, means extending from said guide means and having surfacescontinuous with said rear surfaces of said guide channels and inoverlapping relation with end portions of the panels to engage said flatinner surfaces thereof when said closure member is in closed position, afront member removably mounted on the side walls and engaging the bottomwall to close the lower ends of the channels of the guide means and forman abutment for engagement with the closure members when in closedposition, clamp means carried by said side walls and releasably engagedwith said front member to clamp same against said bottom whereby releaseof said clamp means and removal of the front member permits the closuremember to be slid from the lower ends of the guide means, said frontmember having an upward extending iiange along the length thereof foroverlapping engagement with a lower margin of the lowermost panel whenthe closure member is in closed position, and an upper front membersecured to said top and side walls and extending downwardly from the topwall in overlying relation and in close proximity to the upper portionof the closure member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS278,161 McKee May 22, 1883 340,579 Hirsh Apr. 27, 1886 967,856 TappinAug. 16, 1910 1,159,859 Murphy Nov. 9, 1915 1,305,838 Shur June 3, 19191,630,680 Twedt May 31, 1927 2,585,136 Kuehler Feb. 12, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS 811,277 Germany Aug. 20, 1951 1,139,633 France Feb. 18, 1957

